On July 4th, 2006, I embarked on a quest to become the pre-eminent American portrait painter of the 21st century. This blog chronicles that journey. With apologies to Joan Didion, I call it THE YEAR OF MAGICAL PAINTING.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

It's in God's hands now

How appropriate, given this is Ash Wednesday, that my portrait of John Thain is in God's hands now.

I prefer to think in these theological terms rather than embracing the more earth-bound reality that it is also in the hands of the United Parcel Service. Lord have mercy.

I was walking up the hill the other day, en route to the UPS store with "The Enumerated Thain" nicely wrapped, tucked under my arm--more or less, when a sense of dread hit me. With each step closer to the store I felt all the more strongly that the painting was not adequately protected from the rigors of the men in brown. So I turned around.

The next morning, the guy at Dyke's Lumber (engaging name for a lumber store in Park Slope) custom cut two pieces of Masonite (Tom Wolfe loves to capitalize words like Masonite) for the grand total of $5.45. I took them back to the studio, unchained The Thain, sandwiched it between the two protective slabs, rewrapped it and marched back up the hill.

Insured for five grand, guaranteed delivery tomorrow in a Chicago suburb, about a hundred twenty five US dollars. Pretty reasonable, I thought. That said, I am experiencing an ongoing state of anxiety while the piece is in transit.

The recipient, as we have probably mentioned, is the Liam Hiatt Foundation. Click here to see what they have to say about me. Once you click in you have to muck around to get to the images, but there you go.

This, as I have mentioned in passing, is The Year of the Non-Profit. And so it begins.